Here's the first knife made with my Fossil Misquito Tusk. A smaller scale Model 97 Button Lock. These are very sophisticated designs. Complex to build. They work like a dream.



Here are the liners and scales with many of the machining operations completed.



This is a corner of the handle polished before quitting one evening. It's somewhat translucent. Hard as nails.



The blade hardened, then reground, and now tempered. It shows the tempering colors. This has to be very carefully controlled or the temper is ruined and the hamon distorted. The control takes experience.



The blade is mirror polished, as you see the reflection of my mechanical pencil in my apron pocket.



Now simply shifting the angle, you see the micro lines from the polishing wheel, but mainly you see the "Hamon". The zone of harder edge material created by differential heat treating. THIS is part of a Master Smith's craft. To be able to control the hardness between edge and spine, and to do so in a controlled and uniform manner.



Mirror finish ...



Hamon. Note the almost wood grain cellular structure.

Thanks for watching. I know it's seemed forever on this project. Partly because it is complex. Partly because I'm rescaling the model. Making new patterns. Making tooling. Ready to create this new class of products. Everything takes too long.

Hope you enjoy reading. Please share comments.

Gary



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/2015 03:33AM by barnespneumatic.

Hey Gary,
That is WAY cool. Especially the picture where the knife is hardened and the different colors show. I know that you already made the perfect knife for Julio (jealous), but it looks like you are going to open a new chapter on perfect. I'm glad you have the Christmas club as I just might have to get in line for one of those as I love the button lock concept! I can't wait to see it with the entire handle polished. Thanks for the update!
Jeff

Ready to assemble.



Polished.



In a glancing glare, you can see the grain.

Gary

Wow, nice! I guess the various color striations are from the different golf course maintainence chemicals that crept into the tar pits down there in Florida. I know that state is the king state for golf courses, so they must have affected the tar pit ground water {*:*}

It really looks like it is going to be a winner. Thanks for the photos!
Jeff

Jeff, you are 100% spot on. 20,000 years of "Roundup" run off, has leached into the tusk. You can never tell what minerals it desolved and carried with it. Copper produces the blues and greens. Iron the reds, etc. Many people don't know the origin of Roundup. It was developed by early man, tired of stepping on Sand Spurs in their bare feet. It's main ingredient is Parakeet urine. This is hard to harvest in the quantities needed. Thus the price .....

Gary,

Incredible. That is very itricute looking knife. That material is very nice, almost like a camouflage. What type of stainless steel? 400 series?

It looks like fun making a knife! Thanks for sharing a few details of the process!

Pedro

Sorry Pedro,

I didn't get back to answering your questions.

In stainless tool steels I like 440-C and A-2. It's the heat treat that makes a good blade. Of course the basic ingredients need to be present in the steel. Personally, I like around 1% carbon and lower percentages of chromium. I've developed my own methods of heat treating each.

It is enjoyable. Wish I had more time for it. I'm getting my tools in a row better all the time. That will help.

I really need to make/install a hood vac/fan in the Studio for heat treating small parts and for chemical smells. The building is sooo well insulated that smells last for a week or more. It's on the list.

Will be a work Sunday. All the cars have sore feet of one kind or another. Maybe I'll get some good work done.


Have a good weekend

Gary

Thanks for letting me know. Very nice work. I have limited experience with 400 series stainless. I made a vise years ago wore a wire edm. Didn't rust.

Pedro

That is a super looking blade and handle, thanks for sharing so many pictures as the project moves along. We get taken on a journey of sorts as things come together, very nice.

I have two of those mechanical pencils, from my Elementary School PEAK Architectural Drawing class, circa 1983. The .9mm you have and a .7mm (blue), I love them and carry them to this day in my work backpack. Miles of refills have gone through those.

Hi Sal,

Sorry - I missed this post til now. Interesting about your pencils. I dearly LOVE those things. I have two of the .9 in that school bus yellow, and Kelly found me two of the .7 in black. I wouldn't take a hundred dollars apiece for them. I use them all day long those and ultra fine black sharpies. Also blue med. Sharpies. The things are everywhere on every surface ... til I need one

It's the little things, isn't it Sal?

I had a good friend give me a light blue mechanical pencil. Was reported to be highly favored in architect circles. I liked it very much. Was sad when it failed and I could not restore it.

Thanks for the smile Sal.

Gary

Gary,

That knife is great, I'll bet the new material is bringing great joy and making the familiar blade processes more fun too. Funny, just before I logged on, I used my "97" to open a package, started to cut along seams like you would with a butter knife and then realized that I could just slice through the box like it was butter! Opening things is so much faster with a real blade!

Functional artwork